Former Steam chief becomes Oculus' new Head of Platform

Jason Holtman, former Valve business development chief and evangelist for Microsoft's PC gaming business, has joined Oculus as Head of Platform. Here's how Oculus describes Holtman's new role:

Jason will be spearheading the business development and partnership side of the Oculus platform working closely with Marshall, head of platform engineering, and David, head of worldwide publishing, with a focus on building the world's best developer and player VR ecosystem. We're thrilled to welcome him to the team.

Holtman says he's "looking forward to helping shape the transformative experiences that inspire the next generation of developers." His move to Oculus follows a brief stint at Microsoft, which ended less than six months after he joined the company to focus on "making Windows a great platform for gaming and interactive entertainment." Prior to that, Holtman worked for Valve, where he helped to produce the wildly successful Steam platform. This bodes well for Oculus as it builds up software support for its VR tech.

Along with Holtman, a number of former Valve employees have gone to work for Oculus in recent months. Atman Binstock, whom Oculus describes as a leading engineer behind Valve's VR efforts, joined Oculus as the company's Chief Architect in March. Aaron Nichols, another Valve VR contributor, also left for Oculus in April.